Bihar polls: Cong wants BJP to part ways with JDU as party fields shelter home accused

As the poll season begins in Bihar with the parties releasing the first list of candidates, Congress on Thursday asked the BJP to prevail on its alliance partner JD(U) in Bihar to cancel the candidature of Manju Verma - one of the accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case. While the Congress has declared that they will not give tickets to leaders accused of sexual violence against women, BJP leader and Bihar's Deputy CM Sushil Modi attacked the party after its ally RJD gave tickets to the wives of rape accused. 

On Thursday, Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev said that Manju Verma, after being named in the Shelter home case, was removed as the women and child development minister in the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar and expelled from the party. However, she has again been fielded by the JD(U), led by Kumar, in the upcoming state polls starting October 28.

"The BJP-JD(U) should cancel Verma's candidature and I hope that (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, who consistently says 'beti bachao, beti padhao', will walk the talk and make sure that her candidature is cancelled," Dev told reporters. "If you are serious about women security, you should break this alliance with the JD(U), unless they remove Verma and withdraw her candidature," she said. Dev also said the prime minister should show his seriousness when it comes to crimes against women.

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Muzaffarpur shelter home case

In May 2018, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report to the Bihar government highlighting the alleged sexual abuse of 30 minor girls in the shelter home. Acting on it after coming under severe pressure, the Bihar government shifted the girls from the shelter home to other protection homes and an FIR was lodged against 11 accused in the case. The case was transferred to CBI in 2018 after the Supreme Court took cognizance of the alleged mass rape in August 2018.

Meanwhile, the CBI while probing the case also recovered two skeletons from the same shelter home. There are two cases, one regarding the alleged murder of girls in the shelter home in addition to the case of alleged sexual assault. The CBI has filed an interim report in the Supreme Court stating they had found no evidence in the allegations of murder, adding that girls who were believed to have been murdered were found to be alive, as per reports. 

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Bihar Assembly elections 2020

Bihar goes to polls in three phases for its 243 assembly seats on October 28, November 3 and November 7. Keeping in view the COVID-19 protocol, the voting time has been increased by one hour. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.

The NDA has announced its seat-sharing formula: The BJP will contest 121 seats and the JD(U) will contest 115, while Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM will contest 7 seats. The VIP party will be incorporated in the BJP's seats. The Mahgathbandhan has announced Tejashwi Yadav as its CM face, and RJD-Congress has agreed on a 144-70 seat-sharing formula along with three other Communist parties contesting on 29 seats. There are three other alliances also that will contest elections this year namely Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) - JAP, ASP, SDP, and BMP,  United Democratic Secular Alliance (UDSA) - AIMIM-SJD and BSP-RLSP.

READ | Bihar Elections 2020: JDU fields on-bail Muzaffarpur shelter home case accused Manju Verma

In the 2015 state polls, the Mahagatbandhan comprising RJD, JD(U) and Congress won a whopping majority with 178 seats under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. On the other hand, the BJP-led alliance won from only 58 constituencies. On July 26, 2017, Nitish Kumar stepped down as the CM citing irreconcilable differences with RJD over corruption allegations against Tejashwi Yadav and joined hands with its former ally BJP.

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